A FIJ reporter stays in police custody for the third night

Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist for the Foundation for Investigative Journalism, has apparently been placed under arrest by the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team.

He is presently being held at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti in Lagos, on charges of alleged cybercrime, according to his employers, the FIJ.

According to FIJ, Ojukwu vanished on Wednesday, May 1, leaving his friends, family, and coworkers in the dark about his whereabouts. He had also turned off his phone.

Ojukwu’s location remained unknown despite FIJ’s first attempts to report him missing to police stations in the vicinity of where he was last seen.

But a breakthrough occurred when a private investigator employed by FIJ was able to determine Ojukwu’s phones’ last known location to be in Isheri Olofin.

It’s thought that here is where the police first took his phone.

Ojukwu’s family then discovered that he was being held in Panti and was allegedly facing charges related to breaking the 2015 Cybercrime Act.

But according to FIJ, efforts to get in touch with the Investigating Police Officer’s contact information have failed, with authorities arguing jurisdictional concerns because the matter goes outside Lagos.

A relative who paid him a visit claimed that the arresting police were members of the IG Monitoring Team and that Ojukwu and the others would be sent to Abuja when they had completed apprehending the people on their watch list in Lagos.

Ojukwu has been detained without access to counsel for the past three days.

The United Nations has declared World Press Freedom Day to highlight the value of press freedom and protect the right to freedom of expression, and Ojukwu’s kidnapping occurs on this day.

This is not the first time that FIJ has experienced police harassment, which is a troubling trend.

The head of FIJ’s Board of Trustees, Bukky Shonibare, was questioned about the organization’s reporting on financial mismanagement earlier in March at the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre in Abuja.

For now, the police have not offered a convincing explanation for Ojukwu’s kidnapping.

Recent events, however, indicate that law enforcement may still be persecuting FIJ, since the organization and its founder, Fisayo Soyombo, are the target of baseless accusations.

Although Soyombo was assured he was not on a wanted list, the police have made it clear they plan to bring him in for interrogation.

In spite of demands for an official invitation, FIJ said that it had not heard back from the police.